Frazz by Jef Mallett for October 08, 2016

No no…the cool kids are on the fencing team (‘course…I’m a instructor and equipment vendor, so I MIGHT be a tad biased)

Yes!!! I was one of the un-cool kids (Honor Society, but not Student Council), and I took long long solo runs late at night. If I could go back in time I’d try out for the cross-country team in a heartbeat. Oh well….

This summer I slogged my way up 3 miles to a beautiful high sierra lake only to have the local high school’s cross country team run past me when I finally sat down for lunch and a nap. I really felt old.

No, the cool kids are on the debate team and the math bowl team! Everyone loves and respects them while the football payers are derided and humiliated like all sportsball payers. Because we here in the US honor brains above all else – HAHAHAHAHAHA . . . oh wait, thats not funny

No kid ever said that about cross country.

I thought all the cool kids were in the chess club!

I’m guessing that Mallet couldn’t make the football team in high school so he took up cross country instead.

But fencers often get foiled.

jamesbachreeves

Try solo running late at night in some places and you will be shot on general suspicion.

We footballers always admired the cross country guys. It takes real gumption to run twenty miles a day, then barf. Gotta admire that dedication.

On the other hand, I used to run every other day in the off season, often at night when it was cooler. But I was not good enough for cross country. Besides, I hate barfing.

Why would you eat before you run?

I saw a cross country shirt once that said: our sport is your sport’s punishment

They’d probably be just as thrilled to have a concussion victim join cross country. They’re soooo weird.

People run well into their 60s and 70s. Nobody plays football much past age 22, unless they go professional.

Cross Country is a very inclusive sport that accepts all kids who want to try. Team performance is established by the first five finishers. And the goal for everyone is to try to individually improve. No guilty trips and teasing or bullying because you are not a “star”. Unfortunately, I think Frazz and Miss Plainwell DO SEEM TO BE GLOATING, which I find sad. Coach Hacker is a good guy and is trying to do the right thing too for his kids. There is no need to gloat because a kid switched sports.

pumaman

It wasn’t cool in the late 40’s when I was high school chess club pres. One school refused to permit one, “Next they’ll wand a poker club.”

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Spazoid

Olympics has fencing for foil, epée, and sabre, but not the two-handed kendo. Even those in Japan haven’t used it as a demonstration sport. Why? It meets all the requirements including organized in enough countries.